What comes first the chicken or the egg…more appropriately, what comes first the community or the playground? Here at KaBOOM! and even through many of the communities that use our model on their own, we occasionally hear of playgrounds that have major issues with graffiti and vandalism. We emphasize the importance of community building as much as the playground itself and hope that the community formed is the community that will care for the new play area. However, the realization that this is not always the case should be cause for concern. How do we turn the community of volunteers from build day into a safety network for maintaining and caring for the new playspace?
We can continue to form maintenance plans and provide tools and supplies to rid the playground of spray paint and other marks, but how do you sever the problem at its root? How do you keep it from happening in the first place, but still allow a child to play freely?
It’s exciting to see the renovation of a “down-and-out” area. To watch it go from a scene out of a scary movie to a glorious new safe place for any-aged child to play. However, when we can only renovate a small lot in a larger community, how do we ensure the brand new playground will still look “that good” weeks, months, even years down the road? How can we ensure that graffiti and vandalism won’t be an unbeatable foe?
What about setting up some sort of "playground watch" program, much like the neighborhood watch programs that are out there? People who will be socially responsible as far as taking action should they see something being done to the playspace. Many neighborhoods will have that one person who knows everyone and knows everything that happens. It might be worth a try to engage them throughout the planning process and enlist their help in the future. I know that many neighborhood watch programs have monthly or bi-monthly gatherings; is it possible for your community that planned the playground to also gather together every now and then on the actual playground to have a get-together? If people see that there is positive activity going on at the playspace, maybe they will be less likely to vandalize it.
A Playground Watch program sounds like a wonderful idea! Do you have any experience with something like this you could share with those just starting to tackle this problem? I've had trouble in the past rallying people to actually act, even on such an agreeable idea as this one.
Also, what do y'all think about a more targeted solution: what is the population responsible for the vandalism? Because many of our playgrounds are focused on young kids (-12) are we alientating the older ones (12-16)? Any ideas on how to better include them in the Playspace, increase their ownership? I think if there were a way to get those causing the trouble to be more proud of the space, more aware of its value, then they themselves would protect it.
Any ideas?
Best,
Aron